*BLF LT1 Lantern Project) (updated Nov,17,2020)

I would be down for two.

Hope Iā€™m not too late! Iā€™m interested in one please!

HI

Interested in one depending on final price

Oh boy, consider me another new signup who is totally sold on one of these. Got myself a BLF A6 to replace an ageing Fenix PD30 (had enough of RCR123Asā€¦) and now Iā€™m hooked. Add me to the list please!

Add me in for one as well. Thanks!

I am interested in 1 as well! :slight_smile:

Iā€™m interested in two please!

in addition to the three you already requested ?

Can you add me to the list again for a total of 2 lanterns?

Thanks

Hope everyone is doing good, definitely havenā€™t changed my mind about this project! Iā€™ve started building a collection of diffusers instead of buying other lanterns. Iā€™m only buying one, this one.

Hi, #9 checking in! I havenā€™t been around here much lately, but still excited about a good lantern. I skimmed over the last several pages of the thread, and Iā€™m a little concerned about apparent increases in the complexity of this light. Of course I donā€™t mind if there are options to ramp tints, brightness, mode groups, or whatever; customizability is cool. But simple operation is a VERY important point for me, and indeed one of the things that initially attracted me to this project. Will we be able to let someone borrow this lantern without a lengthy tutorial? IOW is there a ā€œdummy modeā€ interface that lets someone turn the thing on or off, maybe easily toggling/ramping brightness? I just donā€™t want to have to write instructions on the light before letting my wife or kids use itā€¦
Really not criticizing; I just donā€™t remember enough about different drivers to know whatā€™s involved in this one, and I didnā€™t see a clear explanation of updated plans for operation/interface.

Ok Iā€™m intrigued enough and, after Ottawaā€™s recent power outage, Iā€™m in need of something that can keep us well lit playing cards and board games with friends for a few nights.

Add me to the list for one unit, please.

Click for on/off, hold to change brightness.

Thatā€™s all people need to know to use it. Eight words.

If youā€™re concerned about people getting into weird modes, you could put the lantern in muggle mode first, where it canā€™t do anything except the basics.

Thatā€™s exactly what I wanted to hear, thanks very much!

Interesting, not been reported here. I got stuck in Ottawa for two weeks in the ā€™90s with a big ice-storm. And no power. Even in the city. Helped my counterpart to keep his home running (generator running 24/7 and the sump pump to keep the basement dry)

Oh, he lived three miles up his own road (or drive as we would call it here). A bit extreme, but he had two jeeps and a big thing with a bull-dozer blade on the front. His daughter was a bit mad (one of the jeeps showed the sideways scars from some hits, but usually got lifted up again, usually, no questions asked)

She was delightful, by the way.

Is the countries power supply still so rickety ?

I have two on order already, 688 and 689. Iā€™ll try and read through the last 30ish pages of posts shortly, after being away for a while.

But. If you can switch to USB-C with a sane charging rate, I think itā€™s an excellent idea. Iā€™m not interested in a frying-my-batteries rate. Just something that will use the future-proof interface for charging. If it costs a few dollars, fine by me.

I didnā€™t see what the expected cost is anywhere. But odds are, Iā€™ll take at least two more. If it helps in getting an overall better price, put me down for 4 total for sure. Whatever it ends up being is fine.

Great work, take your time. Iā€™d rather have an ultimate lantern than a faster shipping lantern.

Larry

Edit: I noticed you were going to try and open up other battery options. Awesome! Iā€™m an EE/ME though, and I know that complexity truly sucks. 18650s are great. Others can be slightly better. Donā€™t hose this up trying to have too many power options. The perfect 18650 lantern is a remarkable achievement on its own.

18650 batteries are good, but the new and slightly larger 21700 cells are rapidly gaining popularity and can store up to 40% more energy (probably even more in the future as they seem to become the new standard). Also they are the same length as protected 18650s so that the only thing that we would need to change to be able to use them (at least the unprotected ones) is to make the battery tube a little wider, which isnā€™t adding much completely in my opinion.

That seems like a very good idea.
The difference could be made up with some type of sleeve.

The difference in diameter is 3MM

Well, thatā€™s only for one cell. According to Engineering Toolbox, in order to increase from the standard 4x 18650 tube to a 4x 21700 tube would take an increase of about 7mm in diameter. Not that itā€™s a big deal. For a lantern that will pretty-much always be left tail-standing, never meant to be hand-held, it can be a lot wider anyway. But, Iā€™m hoping thatā€™s a consideration for Mark II. This lantern is based on the existing Q8 design, so it will be Q8 sized.

Might be a stupid question as I am new here but why isnā€™t this driver going to be a buck boost? I think I under stand how the 7135s are being PWM switched directly and additive so you are only switching one on and off at a time but the design of 7135s is inherently inefficient compared to an actual buck-boost driver. With all the machining and materials involved is it such a big cost adder to switch to a buck-boost driver? It seems to me that with a lantern, run time is more important then with a flash light so efficiency, especially at low levels of output is important. Iā€™d be willing to pitch in developing such a driver but its been a few years since my job required designing PCBs and programming micro controllers. Donā€™t get the wrong impression I just have been exclusively buying only constant current lights for a few years because I was worried about eye strain and like the idea of high efficiency. Iā€™m hoping if this lantern keeps the 7135s there will be a mode without PWM and 4 brightnesses with each step turning on a new chip.